A few days ago, I read something about improvements Neil Wagner had made to work his way into the Blackcaps ODI squad. No, not the Champions Trophy squad, just the squad for the tri-series against Ireland and Bangladesh. It's always strange when people ponder Wagner's limited overs ability because there's not really any basis for him to not be selected in ODI cricket and he's blatantly been pigeon-holed as a Test bowler, so imagine my surprise when Wagner popped back to join us on the Kiwi County Tour.

Wagner was apparently with the Blackcaps, but returned to play for Essex while the Blackcaps beat up Ireland. As Wagner does, he took a few wickets for Essex on the weekend and strangely enough, Mike Hesson doesn't view Wagner's 13 wickets @ 20.76 for Essex in the Royal London One-Day Cup as being good enough for Wagner to be selected over Seth Rance, Scott Kuggeleijn, Jimmy Neesham, Hamish Bennett and I'd even go as far as saying that Wagner's overall List-A record (26.15avg) probably suggests that he should be offering competition for Tim Southee at least, or maybe Adam Milne.

Then again, Wagner isn't alone at having a nice one-day record and not being in the mix for the Blackcaps' best squad as Matt Henry's ODI average of 25.10 isn't quite good enough.
While much of the Blackcaps seam attack that will feature in the Champions Trophy is in India, playing circus of a format, Wagner is playing the same 50-over format, in the same country as the Champions Trophy - averaging 20.76 in the process.

It all makes sense now though as Wagner apparently, kinda, possibly told me that he'd been screwed around so much that we opted to continue to play for Essex instead of making a rather meaningless ODI debut against Ireland or Bangladesh. We salute Wagner for picking the Kiwi County Tour over the Blackcaps. 

Jeetan Patel 

Warwickshire vs Worcestershire (May 12, England Time)

Oh, what do we have here!? Another loss for Warwickshire and another below-par effort from Lord Jeetz who is not only carrying some lacklustre form into the Champions Trophy, he's also in danger of losing his status as Lord Jeetz. Batting first against Worcestershire, Warwickshire reached 304/5 in their Duckworth-Lewis adjusted overs (49) thanks to a century from Ian Bell, with Jeetz not required to bat.

The homies Duckworth and Lewis then told everyone that Worcestershire would be chasing 241 from 34 overs and Warwickshire got off to a nice start as they had Warwickshire 57/4 in the 9th over. Worcestershire enjoyed a resurgence until Jeetz took his only wicket in the 20th over, but this wasn't enough as Worcestershire reached 241/7 in 31.5 overs.

Jeetz bowled 5.5 overs, 1/47 @ 8.05rpo and he only served up 9 dot-balls. He wasn't Warwickshire's most expensive bowler and as has been the case for much of this Kiwi County Tour, all of Warwickshire's bowlers got spanked, but this is definitely not the Lord Jeetz we have come to expect.

Warwickshire vs Yorkshire (May 14)

After taking one look at Yorkshire's team, I wasn't overly confident that we'd see Warwickshire and Lord Jeetz enjoy any level of success in this fixture. Yorkshire's top-six consists of Adam Lyth, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Peter Handscomb, Gary Ballance and Tim Bresnan, while they've got David Willey, Liam Plunket and Adil Rashid in their bowling unit; not a team you want to face when you're officially battlin'.

However, Warwickshire stormed to victory and Jeetz was influential with the ball. Bresnan was Lord Jeetz' only scalp, but Jeetz conceded just 3.20rpo off his 10 overs while all but one other Warwickshire bowler conceded over 6rpo. Yorkshire still managed to put 281/8 on the board, leaving Warwickshire's own big guns Jonathan Trott (70) and Bell (98) to steer Warwickshire to victory, reaching 284/5 in 47.3 overs.

Matt Quinn vs James Franklin

Essex vs Middlesex (May 12)

Leading up to this game, I was frothing with anticipation as two of our better KCT performers were set to do battle. Matt Quinn's Essex won on their home turf, so good for him as he gets to spin a few cheeky yarns on the KCT bus, although neither Quinn or James Franklin actually did a whole lot in this game.

Franklin got a third-ball duck as Middlesex were rolled for 148 in the 42nd over, with Quinn not taking a wicket but keeping things fairly tight in conceding 4.40rpo. Quinn obviously wasn't needed to pad up, with Essex strolling to victory, reaching 149/3 in 29.4 overs and Franklin didn't bother to have a trundle himself.

Matt Quinn/Neil Wagner

Somerset vs Essex (May 14)

The return of Neil Wagner for Essex was strange from a kiwi perspective, although we love having Wag-nut on the KCT bus and as soon as he jump back on board, we all had a chuckle at why he's getting shafted. Wagner joined Matt Quinn in taking the new-ball once again and they have their batsmen to thank, as Essex put up 334/6 from their 50 overs while Wagner and Quinn kicked back in the sheds.

When it came time to bowl, Quinn got blasted by Johann Myburgh and then managed to sneer his wicket. Myburgh hit 57 off just 28 balls (203.57sr) and Quinn conceded 8.20rpo, before Quinn have Myburgh caught in the 7th over with Somerset on 64/1. Although he did get spanked around the park, Quinn's wicket was crucial as it sparked Essex into gear and Wagner backed up his KCT homie with a wicket in the next over.

Wagner finished with 3/55 off 8 overs @ 6.87rpo and Quinn wasn't required to bowl more than 5 overs, as Essex dismissed Somerset for 262 in 43.2 overs.

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